Abstract
The Tucuman Amazon (Cabanis, 1885) is a rare parrot in captivity which was imported into Europe and U.S.A. in recent years.In the Cage and Aviary bird magazine (Volume 42, page 379) Rosemary Low stated that ten years ago there was only one such species in Europe in the Jersey Zoo which was later taken care of by R. Noegel, who imported two more birds later.
In 1981, the first pair of Tucuman Amazons was imported to Czechoslovakia. They were in the care of Zdenek Pichlik, Dunajaska Streda Povoda, who exhibited the birds in the bird show Exota in 1983. After a few more pairs were imported to Czechoslovakia, one of the pairs went to the aviary of Stepan Plachy, Skoronice, p. Vlkos u Kyjova.
The Tucuman Amazon has green feathers with black edges, the forehead is red and the upper and under tail coverts are greenish-yellow. The primary coverts are red, the primaries are green with blue points, the secondaries are blue and green, the under wing coverts are olive-green, thigh feathers are orange and the tail is green with yellowish-green tips. The beak is horn colored, the eyes orange red, and the legs pinkish gray.
The female is the same color as the male. The young look like adult birds except the thigh feathers are green and the primaries on the younger bird are not as nicely red as on an older bird. The young birds are not as brightly colored.
Distribution - southeast Bolivia and north Argentina.
Habitat - Alder forests in the Andes in 1800 to 2000m altitude.
The bird is usually found in north Argentina sometimes during the nonbreeding season.
According to Orfily, they are plentiful in their habitat and can be seen in huge flocks looking for food in the forests. They live on seeds, nuts, berries, blossoms and young branches.
Mr. Bond found a nest (1943, January 12) in Padilla, Bolivia in which there were four eggs; the measurements of the eggs were 34.5 x26.7mm.
Stepan Plachy kept the birds right from the beginning in an outside aviary with a part enclosure measuring 2m x lm x 2m high and an open flight measuring 4m x lm x 2m in height.
The birds' first breeding attempt was in 1987. They started to build the nest in a nest box, which was 30cm x 30cm x 50cm high with an opening diameter of 12 cm. As nesting material, sawdust and wood shavings were used. Both birds were visiting the enclosed part of the aviary so it was hard to say which one was going into the nest box.